After 2 years of brutal fighting, the Israel-Hamas war may be over : NPR
A ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas could officially take effect today, and Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners could begin returning home as early as this weekend.
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SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Today, Israelis in Tel Aviv celebrated the announcement of a ceasefire agreement in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners could begin returning home within days. And after two years, the deadliest war ever between Israelis and Palestinians could soon end. For the last time, we’re joined by NPR’s Greg Myre in Tel Aviv. Hi, Greg.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
DETROW: Lots of moving parts in this ceasefire agreement. What is happening now and what would happen next?
MYRE: Yeah. Israeli government holds late-night meeting. He is expected to approve the ceasefire agreement, and when he does, it will come into effect 24 hours after the vote. Now, this also marks the start of the deadline for Israel to begin withdrawing its troops, but it will still have about half of Gaza under its control during this first phase. Now time is running out for Hamas as well. She must prepare the release of the Israeli hostages. There are reportedly 20 living hostages and 28 dead hostages. President Trump said today that could happen Monday or Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Israel will begin releasing nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Now this will probably take many, many days. And to top it off, Scott and Trump are expected to visit the region this weekend. That would include a stop in Israel, where he was invited to speak before the Israeli parliament, and possibly Egypt, where ceasefire negotiations took place. So a very busy few days ahead.
DETROW: But Greg, we’ve had ceasefires before in this war, and they were broken pretty quickly. So why is this one different so far?
MYRE: Well, Trump has put a lot more pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, more than he did during the failed ceasefire in January, much more than President Biden did in his last year in office. Trump convinced Netanyahu to publicly accept this deal, and then they pressured Hamas. There has been great international support, notably from Arab states like Egypt and Qatar, which work with Hamas. And Israeli and Palestinian public opinion was simply exhausted. There are strong majorities on both sides who want this war to end. So there are a lot of tough days ahead and a lot of things could go wrong, but there’s a lot more momentum and a lot more leadership invested in making this work.
DETROW: I want to go back to something you said a few moments ago, though. The war may be coming to an end, but you mentioned that Israeli troops would still be in Gaza. How long should they stay?
MYRE: Scott, there is no clear timeline. Israel agreed to gradually withdraw. First, it will leave places like Gaza City and other Palestinian population centers. Now they are finally supposed to withdraw to a buffer zone along the Gaza border, but still on the Gaza border side. Hamas has always demanded the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops, but it simply had no leverage in these negotiations. With Israeli troops in Gaza, it would not take much to restart hostilities. And just one last note, the ceasefire is not officially in effect yet and Israel carried out a number of airstrikes today, claiming its forces were under threat.
DETROW: A big question people have been asking for years: Who will rule Gaza in the future?
MYRE: Yeah. This is a huge question. Trump’s plan, as outlined last week, states that Hamas, which has ruled the country for nearly 20 years, is supposed to step down, but it has not publicly agreed to do so. This is the case: the plan calls for Palestinian technocrats to take over, at least temporarily, but no one knows exactly who these people are, what authority they would have, how long they would stay there. And on top of that, there is supposed to be a committee – a committee for Gaza – that Trump and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would lead as a so-called peace council. But they would not be involved in the day-to-day management of Gaza, and it is not clear how they could resolve any problems that might arise.
DETROW: This is NPR’s Greg Myre joining us from Tel Aviv. Thank you so much.
MYRE: Of course, Scott.
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